The Difference Between Cheap and Good

You’ve probably noticed how much cheap marketing and writing advice is out there. So many hypey “hacks” … so few results.

We’re much more into the long game. It takes time and energy to produce good content, which is why we like solid, proven strategies that are actually worth your time.

This week, we have some deep dives for you.

On Monday, Beth Hayden shared some thoughts on promoting your content to improve your SEO. (Like all good SEO recommendations, content promotion isn’t just for search engines — its most important function is to find more humans who would love to read, watch, or listen to your content.)

On Tuesday, Aaron Orendorff wrote about one of our favorite things — evergreen content. Instead of trying to chase news (along with thousands of other sites in your topic), with evergreen content, you develop a thoughtful, compelling angle on a subject and put in the extra work that lifts it above the usual noise. Aaron gives 20 ideas you can use to shape content that will work for the long haul.

I have a suggestion for you: Take Aaron’s list of 20, pick the ones that resonate with you, and get one onto your calendar for each month of 2017. They won’t be 12 easy posts to write … but if you put real effort into them, they’ll bring genuine, long-lasting authority to your site.

On Wednesday, I pulled together some of my favorite Copyblogger posts from 2016, with a few words on each one. (In other words, it’s a bit like this post, but for a whole year.) It’s divided into sections, so you can find your favorite topics more easily.